How to prepare for the Reed's School 11+ in 2028

The exam at a glance

For children applying to join Reed's School in Year 7 in September 2028, the 11+ assessment is the ISEB Common Pre-Test. This is an online, computer-based assessment covering English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

The Pre-Test is designed to be adaptive, which means the level of difficulty changes in response to a child's answers. In practical terms, that makes two things especially important: secure core skills and the confidence to keep moving at a steady pace. Because the test is also tightly timed, preparation should include screen-based work and practice answering accurately and efficiently.

At Reed's, the test is part of a wider admissions process rather than the whole decision on its own. The school's published 11+ process for the current cycle also includes an interview stage after the ISEB test.

On the day itself, children should expect a school-run assessment process using the ISEB platform. Exact session arrangements can vary by year, so parents should always follow the instructions sent by the admissions team. In broad terms, children will complete the online test in separate sections, with each subject area timed. Because it is delivered on screen, it is wise to make sure your child is used to reading carefully from a computer, selecting answers confidently and managing the pressure of a countdown timer.

Board: ISEB Common Pre-Test
Format: adaptive online test
Subjects: English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning
Delivery: computer-based
Best preparation focus: secure fundamentals, fluent reasoning skills, and calm pace under timed conditions

Registration and key dates

Reed's School runs its own admissions process. The school's admissions pages state that parents should submit a Registration Form and pay a 30 non-refundable Registration Fee. The school also says that the registration form can be submitted at any time for future years, which is helpful for families planning ahead.

For 2028 entry, the school has not yet published a full new 11+ timeline on the pages reviewed. However, the school's published timeline for September 2027 entry gives parents a useful guide to the usual sequence. On that published timetable, applications closed on 15 October 2026, candidates had to complete the ISEB Common Pre-Tests by 30 November 2026, interviews took place on 4 and 5 January 2027, results were emailed in February 2027, and accepted families had to confirm the place and pay the 1,500 security deposit by early March 2027.

For families targeting September 2028 entry, that means the practical pattern is likely to be:

register during Year 5 or early Year 6
expect the registration deadline to be in the autumn of Year 6
expect the ISEB Common Pre-Test to be completed in the late autumn
expect interviews after the test
expect decisions in the spring term

Because schools can change dates from year to year, do not rely on a previous cycle alone. Check the school's admissions page regularly and consider signing up for updates. You can also bookmark The Reed's School 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates) and Free email alerts for this school's key dates.

When registering, be prepared to complete the school's own form and to pay the published registration fee. If you are applying for boarding, bursary support or from overseas, ask admissions early whether any additional forms or documents are required for your route.

Who can apply: catchment and admissions

Reed's School is an independent school, so there is no catchment area for 11+ entry. Families do not apply through a local authority selective test system; they apply directly to the school.

The school considers applicants for both day and boarding places. It also states that it is moving to become fully co-educational, with girls accepted into Year 7 from 2027 and into Year 9 from 2029. For parents considering 2028 entry to Year 7, that means both boys and girls can apply.

Reed's publishes the stages of its admissions process, but on the sources reviewed it does not publish a standard 11+ pass mark, a cut-off score, or a fixed catchment priority because those are not how its admissions work. Independent school decisions are usually made using the whole admissions picture: registration, assessment performance, interview and the availability of places.

The school pages reviewed also do not give a confirmed number of Year 7 places specifically available for 2028 entry. If you want a current sense of likely competition, the safest step is to contact admissions directly and ask about the expected size of the 11+ intake for your year.

In short:

No catchment
Direct application to the school
Day and boarding applications considered
Co-educational for Year 7 entry from 2027 onward
No published 11+ pass mark on the sources reviewed

A month-by-month preparation plan

For an adaptive test like the ISEB Common Pre-Test, the best preparation is steady rather than intense. Most children do better with short, regular practice than with long weekend sessions. Below is a realistic plan working back from an autumn Year 6 test date.

January to March of Year 5

Keep it light: around 1 to 1.5 hours a week in total is enough at this stage. Focus on reading fluency, number confidence and careful thinking. Build habits rather than pressure.

Read widely every day: fiction and non-fiction.
Secure arithmetic facts, fractions, decimals and problem solving.
Introduce gentle verbal and non-verbal reasoning puzzles once or twice a week.
Use short computer-based tasks so screen work feels normal.

April to July of Year 5

Increase to around 2 hours a week. Now is the time to spot weaker areas before they harden into habits.

Start mixed practice across all four subjects.
Teach method as well as answer: ask your child to explain how they know.
Practise short bursts of timed work, but keep most sessions untimed for now.
Build keyboard, mouse and on-screen concentration skills.

Summer holidays before Year 6

Aim for 2 to 3 hours a week, spread across the week. Consistency matters more than volume.

Do regular review to keep Maths and English skills sharp.
Increase reasoning practice little by little.
Begin using school-specific familiarisation material where available.
Start short timed sets so pace becomes less intimidating.

September of Year 6

Move to about 3 to 4 hours a week. This is the month to become purposeful.

Switch to more structured preparation across all four subjects.
Use full mixed sessions to reflect the way the Pre-Test rewards flexibility.
Review mistakes carefully and keep an error log.
Practise maintaining focus on screen without rushing.

October of Year 6

Keep to 3 to 4 hours a week, with one lighter day if your child is tiring. This is usually the point to introduce more serious timed work.

Start timed papers or timed section practice regularly.
Revisit weak topics rather than doing endless new material.
Practise moving on sensibly after a difficult question.
Make sure your child knows that adaptive tests can feel hard by design.

November of Year 6

If the test window falls in late autumn, reduce workload slightly in the final week. Quality beats quantity.

Use short, sharp practice to keep confidence up.
Do no cramming the night before.
Prioritise sleep, routine and calm reassurance.

A useful rule for parents: if preparation is causing daily friction, do less but do it better. A settled child usually performs more reliably than an over-drilled one.

Subject by subject: what to practise

English

For the ISEB Common Pre-Test, English preparation should cover both comprehension and language skills. Children need to read carefully, infer meaning, notice vocabulary in context and recognise how grammar and punctuation shape meaning. Practise short passages, selecting the best answer from close alternatives, and getting used to reading quickly without skipping important detail.

Comprehension from fiction and non-fiction
Vocabulary in context
Grammar and punctuation awareness
Inference and careful reading under time pressure

Good practice includes daily reading, short comprehension drills, vocabulary notebooks and discussing why one option is better than another.

Maths

Maths for this test is less about long written methods and more about fluent, accurate problem solving on screen. Your child should be secure with number operations, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio, measures, shape and straightforward algebraic thinking at an age-appropriate level.

Arithmetic fluency
Fractions, decimals and percentages
Word problems and multi-step reasoning
Measures, shape and data handling
Working efficiently under time pressure

Practise mental agility, estimating before answering, and spotting the quickest sensible method. Short mixed sets work well.

Verbal Reasoning

Verbal Reasoning rewards flexible thinking with words and patterns in language. Depending on the test design, children may need to work with letter patterns, codes, relationships between words, sequences and logical deductions using language-based information.

Word relationships and analogies
Letter and number codes
Sequences and patterns
Logical language puzzles
Vocabulary strength

The best preparation mixes technique with vocabulary building. If a child knows the method but not the words, scores can stall; if vocabulary is good but methods are weak, timing can suffer.

Non-Verbal Reasoning

Non-Verbal Reasoning usually focuses on visual patterns and relationships. Children need to identify how shapes change, rotate, reflect, combine or progress in a sequence.

Shape sequences
Rotations and reflections
Codes using shapes or positions
Identifying the odd one out
Matrix-style pattern recognition

Practise by teaching one pattern type at a time, then mixing them. Encourage your child to describe the rule they can see before choosing an answer. That habit improves both accuracy and speed.

Practice papers and mock exams

Practice papers are most useful when they are used diagnostically, not just as a score-chasing exercise. For an adaptive online test, the goal is not to memorise question styles but to become comfortable with quick decisions, calm pacing and recovery after a difficult item.

A good routine is:

Start with untimed practice to learn the method.
Move to short timed sections once accuracy is steady.
Review every mistake: was it knowledge, misreading, panic or timing?
Repeat weak question types a few days later.
Use occasional mixed sessions to build stamina and switching skills.

If your child is using papers at home, keep conditions realistic but not intimidating. A kitchen timer and a laptop are often enough. For some children, a mock exam can be helpful later in the process because it makes the experience feel familiar. For others, especially if nerves run high, shorter timed sessions may be more useful than a full mock.

For school-specific practice, use Free Reed's School practice papers (one per tested subject, with answers). You may also want to keep The Reed's School 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates) handy and sign up for Free email alerts for this school's key dates.

One final tip: if a paper goes badly, do not treat that as a verdict. Treat it as information. The most useful question is always, what should we do differently next week?

On the day

For an online adaptive test, calm routine matters. Try to make the morning feel orderly and unremarkable rather than overly serious.

Arrive in good time and allow for traffic or parking delays.
Make sure your child has had a familiar breakfast and enough water.
Avoid last-minute teaching on the journey.
Remind them that some questions are meant to feel stretching.
Encourage them to keep moving rather than freezing on one item.

Useful words to give your child are simple: read carefully, choose calmly, move on. Because the ISEB Pre-Test adapts, children often come out saying it felt hard. That does not mean it went badly. In fact, a challenging feel is normal.

After the test, keep questions gentle. Instead of asking, "How many did you get right?", try "Was there anything that felt more familiar than you expected?" Then let the day move on.

After the exam: results, allocation and appeals

At Reed's School, the 11+ process does not end with the test itself. The school's published timeline for the current cycle shows that candidates complete the ISEB Common Pre-Tests first and then shortlisted children attend interviews in January, with results emailed in February. For accepted applicants in that cycle, the place was secured by confirming acceptance and paying the published 1,500 security deposit by early March.

For 2028 entry, parents should expect the same general order unless the school announces otherwise:

registration with the school
completion of the ISEB Common Pre-Test
interview stage
decision email
acceptance paperwork and deposit if offered a place

Because Reed's is an independent school, this is not the same as the state-school National Offer Day process. Offers are made directly by the school according to its own admissions timetable.

If your child is unsuccessful, the right next step is to ask politely for feedback if the school is able to provide it, and to focus on the next application on your list. Independent school appeals and review arrangements can vary, so follow the procedure set out by the admissions team rather than assuming it works like a local authority school appeal.

What has changed recently

One clear recent change is that Reed's School says it is moving to become fully co-educational, with girls accepted into Year 7 from 2027 and into Year 9 from 2029.

The admissions pages reviewed also show the current 11+ process using the ISEB Common Pre-Tests and a published 2027-entry timetable running from an October application deadline through late-autumn testing, January interviews and February decisions.

Beyond that, we did not find any further officially announced change on the sources reviewed to the 11+ board, catchment rules or published place numbers for 2028 entry.

Frequently asked questions

Does Reed's School have a catchment area for 11+?

No. Reed's is an independent school and the sources reviewed do not show any catchment area for 11+ entry.

What exam does Reed's School use for 11+ entry in 2028?

For 2028 entry, the assessment is the ISEB Common Pre-Test, taken online and covering English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

Is Reed's School co-educational for Year 7 entry?

Yes. The school says girls are accepted into Year 7 from 2027, so both boys and girls can apply for 2028 Year 7 entry.

When should we register for Reed's School 11+?

The school says a Registration Form can be submitted at any time for future years, but the published 2027-entry cycle closed on 15 October 2026. Check the admissions page for the current year's deadline.

Does Reed's School publish an 11+ pass mark?

Not on the sources reviewed. If you want the latest detail on how assessment outcomes are used, contact the admissions team directly.

Are there interviews after the test?

Yes, on the published 2027-entry timetable, interviews took place after the ISEB Common Pre-Tests, in January.

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Sources

Reed's School - Entry Process: Reed's School runs its own admissions process; applicants submit a Registration Form; future-year Registration Forms can be submitted at any time; 2027-entry 11+ timeline including applications closed on 15 October 2026, ISEB Common Pre-Tests completed by 30 November 2026, interviews on 4 and 5 Janu
Reed's School website: School location and general school identity as an independent school; school statement that it is moving to become fully co-educational, with girls accepted into Year 7 from 2027 and Year 9 from 2029.
ISEB - Common Pre-Tests: Common Pre-Test is an online, adaptive assessment used for school admissions.

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Written by ElevenReady from the school's published information and reviewed by a person before publishing. Last reviewed 4 October 2026. Exam arrangements change. Check the school's admissions page for the current year.